


after the storm

by ziasann



Category: NieR: Automata (Video Game)
Genre: A2 Third Wheeling and being a Mother to 9S and 2B, A2's POV, F/M, Implied Sexual Content, Love Hate Relationship of 9S and 2B, Night Terrors, Post-Ending E (NieR: Automata), Strangulation, Virus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:54:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24366133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ziasann/pseuds/ziasann
Summary: Three times A2 pretended to sleep, and one time she had to wake up and intervene.***(Or, A2 just looking out for 2B and 9S after their reboot. Her logic circuits found it tiring just to skim over the complexity of 9S and 2B’s relationship.)
Relationships: 2B & A2 (NieR: Automata), 2B/9S (NieR: Automata), 9S & A2 (NieR: Automata)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 88





	after the storm

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic for the Nier Automata fandom. I watched a lot of analyses especially in 9S and 2B's relationship, but I think A2's the best perspective to look at it. Enjoy!

  
Their first meeting after those prick stupid Pods decided to revive them was tense. For one, A2 was sure she’d be relieved of the pain she suffered from her life with her death. The pods, those freaking annoying hellish pods of 9S and 2B, had different opinions.

Not that A2 can change anything anymore since she’s here alive and breathing. 

Like those two ex-YoRHa androids in front of her too.

After a meaningless fight with 9S who just shrieked and attacked her, with 2B who acted as a mediator, they came to a silent agreement that maybe as the last YoRHa androids who survived the war, they could at least work together.

There’s nothing much to work with, in the first place, now that there are no base operations and they all knew mankind was long eradicated. 

A2 understood the feeling of having to forge your own path now that there’s no command to follow. 

A2 understood the meaning of being lost. Maybe that’s why she’s accompanying these two androids who only began to touch the concept of following their own will and orders, rather than the instincts they were programmed with. 

It’s never gonna be easy.

* * *

A2, despite joining the other two (plus those pesky pods) in their mocked up journey of ‘soul-searching’, maintained a respectable distance from 9S and 2B.

It’s obvious the two had baggage to settle. Now that 9S can freely access confidential files and data, and 2B who’s slowly trying to express herself more, the tension in the air could explode one day.

Or maybe one night.

A2, being a first-hand model for combat YoRHa units, had her configuration tuned up for any slightest of disturbance. In this case, her systems roused her from sleep at the first hostile noise detected.

She peeked through the small hole in the dividing wall of their rooms. The abandoned building they’re staying in didn’t really provide any soundproof privacy. With heightened aural and visual senses, A2 surveyed the source of warnings and alerts.

She shouldn’t be surprised.

2B was straddling the lying 9S on their makeshift cot,  _ Virtuous Contract _ pointed at his throat. 

A2 didn’t know if the passive scanner boy was making things better or worse. 9S, who was clearly awake by 2B’s abrupt actions, just held out his hand to palm her synthetic cheek.

“I forgive you.” 9S murmured, “I’ll always do.”

Such a weird love language A2 cannot comprehend. A connection so strong it transcends years of manipulated memories and hatred. 

A2 couldn’t see any better because of the dimmed light and 2B’s hair covering her face.

_ Virtuous Contract _ suddenly disappeared, as 2B’s body fell on top of 9S. If A2’s senses were a bit lowered, she wouldn’t be able to hear 2B’s cracking sobs and 9S’s comforting whispers.

_ Ah _ , even with all the knowledge A2 obtained after her desertion, her logic circuits found it tiring just to skim over the complexity of 9S and 2B’s relationship.

She lies back on her bed, without making any sound. She’d rather sleep than stare at something too precious for her eyes.

* * *

2B was even more expressive than A2’s memory data of her. She knew 2B’s walls were only high because of the impending tragedy of 9S’s repeated execution. Now that she’ll never receive such order again, both A2 and 9S were witnesses to her small, growing smiles and soft sighs. 

A2 caught glimpses of 2B brushing her fingers with 9S’s. Her gaze lingering on 9S’s sleeping or scanning mode. The foolish boy would blush as if it happened for the first time and pretend he didn’t notice what 2B was insinuating. A2 can’t stand it anymore.

While 9S was frolicking in the middle of an abandoned rural grounds, some of the area’s history interests his rampant curiosity, A2 jumped and sat beside 2B. The combat model designed after her, was not surprisingly, watching 9S’s acts of naïveté.

“Why can’t you still express your emotions fully to him?” A2 asked directly. She followed 2B’s line of sight. 9S who was grinning at the pods as they discoursed about some Old World artifact they found lying. 

“I promised Nines...” 2B’s hands in her lap clenched, those same hands which 9S reverently repaired first thing when he rebooted. “I promised the previous one that when the day our cursed cycle ends, I’d show him each memory I had with every 9S.”

“Considering 9S’s skills, wouldn’t he already have accessed those deleted memories?” A2 kicked a pebble she found near her toes.

“No...” 2B looked down. “...I once tried a past conversation we had to the current one and he didn’t...”

“9S didn’t remember his previous incarnations. He only realized he had previous bodies and memories from the way I acted, and the way YoRHa operated. A pure deduction from his high-end intelligence and investigative program.”

“So much for ‘emotions are prohibited’ when the person you’re protecting them from is the only one who can see through them,” A2 said. 

9S turned to them and immediately waved his hand at 2B. He showed another strange device from the Old World where A2’s sure he’d spend an hour disassembling and assembling.

2B quickly beamed up at 9S’s antics, as if their conversation earlier only grazed by. A2 still can’t stand those two irrational beings. Loving and hating, smiling, and crying at every turn. 

Yet surveying the two androids she first parried with at the Forest Kingdom, frolicking and finding themselves, she can’t help the warm feeling in her black box, not because of heat but  _ something else _ entirely.

* * *

A2 woke up from her resting mode because of the familiar whirring of Pod 042 beside her and of course, the clash loud enough to alert her auditory.

“What the hell is happening...” A2 muttered and hoped her fellow YoRHa androids didn’t bottle up too much of their emotions to result in furious and intense android sex.

She put her eye in the hole where she first caught 2B about to snap 9S’s neck. How much time had passed since then? Surely, it won’t be a routine to wake A2 up in the middle of her sleep, right? They’re not doing this to vex her shut-down schedule, right?

As her iris focused on the dark scene, activating her recently acquired night-vision plug-in chip, A2 managed to depict what was transpiring on the other side of the wall at this very lonely hour.

“Great, at first it was 2B..then now, that brat is doing it too.”

“Proposal: Unit A2 should leave the matter to Units 9S and 2B.” 

_ It’s not like I’d intervene _ , A2 thought. But 9S pinning 2B to the wall, bare hands at her neck, his eyes not riddled red with logic virus made A2 reconsider her earlier choice. What those eyes emanated reminded her of the battle in The Tower when what all remained of 9S was hatred and rage in every fiber of his being.

“You’re saying they’d figure a way out to solve their problems?” A2 asked, skeptic.

“Affirmative.” Pod 042 replied. 

She sighed and glued to her position. Hands tingling for her arsenal of weapons, just in case...

“You took away my  _ MEMORIES _ !” 9S shrieked. 2B flinched, but she’s not even trying to remove those fingers grappling her throat. A2 doubted 2B could not have easily removed 9S’s strangle on her and overpowered him.

Stupid girl, really. 

A2 may have held some understanding of 2B's actions due to their shared memories once, but still, sometimes, A2 was baffled by the line of logic 2B has especially when it concerns her beloved Nines.

“Fight back! Kill me again, take away this pain you brought with every death I had!” 9S thrashed.

Did 2B finally share the memories 9S lost?

“9..S...Nines.” 2B gasped. “You’re the only one who could kill me.” 

That certainly did not help, 9S tightened his grip, and 2B had to close her eyes shut. A2 shot a glare at Pod 042 and was about to order her chosen weapon. 9S was a formidable foe, as much as she hated to admit.

“I killed you so many times!  _ So many _ ...fucking times...but you look at me...you look at me so  _ dearly  _ it’s disgusting!”

“Pod, I swear to the fallen Bunker if you disable my access to weapons storage now I’d kill-“ A2 hissed but was cut off by a gasp.

“Y-you.. did the s-same to me.” 2B choked out. Fists clenched at her sides. Light blue eyes struggling to open. “You... _ ha—- _ , so cruel. Dying with such a tender look...sometimes...not even letting me kill you and dying in my arms like it was the greatest honor.”

“Alert: Black box temperature rising.” Pod 042 warned. A2 wondered,  _ whose Black Box? _

“I...You...Aaagh-!” 9S gritted his teeth and shut his eyes. His grip on 2B loosening, which 2B took advantage of, and leaped to embrace him.

“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.” 2B cried out. 

9S groaned and scratched his head, thrashing at 2B’s hold. He screamed, with douses of incoherent words.

“Pod, what’s wrong with 9S?!” A2 demanded.

“Report: Unit 9S entering emergency shut down due to overheating of Black Box.”

After Pod 042 recited, 9S screamed once more and 2B never once slackened her hug. 2B endured the shaking and unstable ex-YoRHa soldier until said boy powered off and slumped on her shoulders.

A2 exhaled the tension in her circuits. At least 2B’s safe, and 9S shut himself off before causing any more damage. Pod 153 seemed to turn on from her sleep mode after her support unit crashed down. 

“Why did Pod 153 only wake up now?” A2 queried.

“Hypothesis: Unit 9S prevented his support unit from intervening, thus disabling Pod 153. It is also a reason why this support unit cannot get in proximity.”

The reality of 9S’s outstanding growth in his skills and techniques shuddered A2. She began to understand why YoRHa wanted 9S badly on their side. He was a high-cost model with quality and efficient results. An evolving android unit...how the hell could YoRHa retort once 9S betrayed them. 

Pod 153 hovered above her support unit, tackling 9S’s internal functions. Diagnostics and virus scans were initiated. Pod 042 soon flew over the scene, his supported unit clutching the tiny body in her arms. 

2B never stopped praying her apologies over the sleeping 9S. A2 remembered, in her account of 2B’s memories, all the times 2B cradled a 9S who was struck by her hand. Every death eating away her core with every reset of their cycle. 

A2 shook away 2B’s memory data in her head before the images overwhelmed her. She stared out some more, the pods diligently fixing 9S’s systems both internal and external. 2B moving his head to her lap, and brushing his white hair freely.

Relief washed over her soon by surveying 2B and 9S’s tranquil moments after the storm. A2’s glad she didn’t have to cut in the tension, she wasn’t really expecting a clean fight with 9S’s state like that. 2B would probably beg her to stop defending her. For once, the suggestion of the pods wasn't so bad at all.

She lied back in her bed, she’d sleep first before the pods suggested unit A2 to ‘conserve energy’.

* * *

The next shut-down routine, A2 didn’t open her visual receptors to look. Her hearing didn’t spare her from the trouble finding out what again was going on between the two emotionally constipated killers-slash-turned-lovers.

When 9S woke up from the breakdown he had, he wasn’t aware of what first transpired. He glanced at 2B who was worn-out and recharging as the pods reported. He realized they weren’t in the same position where they first slept. 9S was too smart for his own good and immediately noticed the hand marks on 2B’s neck. The fact that his finger joints were hard to move did not contribute to dissuading his forming anxiety.

“I...” 9S brought up his hands to observe its movements. 

A2 strolled in their room, she wasn’t comforted by the mere thought of leaving 9S alone with a vulnerable 2B. That’s how their whole fiasco the other day stimulated, right?

“I..hurt her...again.” 9S’s nails were digging his palms. 

“Do you even remember how it ended?” A2 asked, arms crossed, and leaning over the door frame.

“I don’t...Pod—“

“Don’t ask Pod 153, you disabled her so she won’t intervene,” A2 said sharply to which 9S flinched. “Ask Pod 042 instead, he can transfer the data to you.”

“Warning: The content of the incident may trigger the viewer.” Pod 042 reiterated.

“Just...give it to me, Pod 042. A2 will be watching over me, right?” His eyes resigned, and A2 felt 9S’s heavy trust in her. She bit her lip, the epiphany of how the two blindly trusted her companionship since they met after their supposed deaths...was a feeling she had forgotten. She deserted YoRHa and company for too long to be bothered like this.

“Pod 042, recall what happened before my emergency shut-down.” 

“Alert: This Pod will begin data transfer of earlier events to Unit 9S.” 

A2 leveled her gaze on the boy as his pale eyes blanked, storing information from Pod 042. He registered an hour duration of the incident in one minute, tears flowing down his cheeks.

“Data transfer successful.” Pod 042 reported.

Silence passed them as 2B continued her rest mode, 9S cried with no sound, and A2 guarded her fellow units. Pods 042 and 153 exiting the building for machine lookout.

“A2...did you know...” 9S palmed 2B’s cheek. “We, YoRHa soldiers were programmed to derive pleasure from battles and killings.” 

A2 indulged the scanner by staying quiet.

“2B was not afraid of showing her memories. She was ashamed of what she felt when she killed me. Over and over again. The line between pain and pleasure blurring.”

“It was so sadistic of our creators to program us like that. To only feel love when there’s hate, to feel happy when there’s grief...to feel life when death is so near...”

9S’s words echoed in her core, and with the two androids’ conversation which her audio processors couldn’t help to hear across the wall...her consciousness remained active and running.

A2 wondered if she should add her heightened receptive senses to her expanding list of reasons to hate her design. There were sniffles, and hiccups...feminine ones. 

She witnessed 2B’s grieving and painful cries in  _ Virtuous Contract _ ’s storage bank. These sobs, however, there’s a stark difference from the ones 2B previously had. 

“I love you, Nines.” A2 deciphered from 2B’s muffled voice. If she had to guess, 2B was crying in 9S’s back...or chest. A2’s not interested in peeking over a tender moment just to check if her accusations were correct.

“2B...” 9S whispered, his tone on edge. “We almost killed each other.”

“I know..It’s hard..so hard but I can’t stop my emotions...for you.” 

“It’s hard to fight against our programming,” 9S replied, there’s a shuffling in the sheets, adjusting whatever position those two lovebirds suited most comfortably.

2B was taking deep breaths. Controlling her cries, A2 hoped. She doubts 9S would be brave enough to pull a hanky panky.

“A memory resurfaced while I was sleeping,” 2B admitted, hushed. “I pointed  _ Virtuous Contract _ while you were sleeping.”

“It...it happened, didn’t it?” 2B croaked up. “I wasn’t able to control myself—I almost did it again—“

“I told you I’d forgive you. Again and again. Stop hating yourself.” Louder bed creaking. Pillow thudding to the floor. A hand hitting the foam of the cot. 2B’s inaccurate breathing pattern. 9S’s sharp exhales. 

A2 imagined the position they’re in and recounted her wrong assumption of 9S’s inability to face his own feelings.

“I’ll hate you harder than you hate yourself. Hate me with all you have, 2B, the things I’m going to do to you...”

2B whined. Then arrived the sounds of...

A2 rolled her eyes, despite them being closed. She hacked into her program and disabled her aural receptors to zero sensitivity. May it grant her the peaceful, undisturbed sleep she deserves from her last few shut-downs.

Those bottled up emotions of 9S and 2B finally exploded into the furious and intense android sex A2 certainly did not anticipate.

* * *

Peace never lasts, especially in a world erased of humanity and reeking of oil machines. A2 should have thought better than the assurance that accompanied them in their previous days. The tension between 9S and 2B dissipated, they traveled far more and eliminated hostile machines. They gathered supplies while 9S habitually lost himself in Old World artifacts. They even messaged Pascal who was reading Nietschze again. 

A2 also accounted for the gross 9S and 2B hand-holding from time to time. When they think they’re out of her peripherals, 2B steals a kiss in 9S’s cheeks. Said cheeks puffing when A2 glanced back at them, her sensitive auditory already concluding what the two did behind her back. Their guilty expressions and visor-less eyes revealed everything not said.

They’d have to practice displaying affection to each other first before they show it publicly. A2 doesn’t care, as long as the two are safe and happy. 

They agreed to end the day after completing five delivery requests, three material gatherings (which only 9S enjoyed), and clearing out a dangerous area filled with hostile machines for a new Resistance camp. 

A2, after three subsequent disturbances in her resting mode, and getting the assurance that 9S and 2B can handle their own shit alone, routinely shut down her audio processors before her body whole. That meant muting everything even in her sleep. No more hearing of unsolicited android moans.  _ Yay _ .

Pod 042 will always beg to differ. This time, he brought Pod 153 to torture her. Is seeing A2 grumpily wake up, a drug that the pods were hitting on? They sure seemed to be enjoying it.

Text appeared before A2’s internal white space. 

> **Alert: This is Pod 042 booting Unit A2’s systems up.**

She replied in code: > **I turned off my audio processors so I won’t hear you.**

> **Proposal: Shutting down Unit A2’s auditory receptors is inadvisable.**

> **Get the fuck out my head, Pod!**

Her systems whirred and booted up one by one, her auditory greeted by the voice of Pod 153.

“Status report: Raising Unit A2’s audio sensitivity to normal levels.”

She heard steel clashes and running footsteps as her aural range widened. Dread seeped in her wires as what the sounds cleared and inferred to.

> **Pod 042, did you wake me up here because of...**

> **Clarification: Pod 042 did not once disable Unit A2’s access to her weapons storage.**

The connection was sliced off as soon as A2 opened her eyes. Just as she suspected, Pod 042 and Pod 153 hovered near her. Small vibrations registered in her body as the building shook. Dust floated in the air and when A2 twisted her head behind, the hole where she used to peep in her fellow ex-soldiers’ activities grew in size. Kind of Emil’s head size.

“ _ Shit _ ! I leave you four alone and this is what happens!” A2 snarked at the pods as  _ Virtuous Contract _ clanged with  _ Cruel Oath _ . 

A2 stood and grasped for  _ Beastlord _ , the big sword snuggled fit in her hands.

9S and 2B were parrying, not even friendly in the slightest. 9S’s eyes were just like the other time before, with unadulterated hatred for his opponent. 2B’s eyes were cold and calculated, just like those first few times she executed her targets. 

The apartment building they were lounging at had shambled as A2 sprinted towards the two. The pair were too engrossed in their fight, they already left the broken building and settled in another battleground. 

The pods hurriedly flew beside A2. 

“You two can’t stop them?” 

“Negative.” Pod 153 replied. “Unit 9S successfully disabled the connection between the support units. Even with his own.” 

“Pod 153 and Pod 042 will provide support for unit A2.” Pod 042 retaliated.

When A2 and 9S fought in The Tower, she remembered the scanner ordering Pod 153 to halt all logical thought until either of them died. 9S meant business if that’s the case of his fight with 2B right at this moment.

The scanner and battler model swung their weapons at the grass field. The nearby standby machines avoid their destructive stances. Some had even lost machine parts just from the collateral damage of the androids’ attacks. A2’s best bet that it was 2B who mostly hit on the wrong side and injured those innocent machines.

9S and 2B were running head-on full speed, swords raised to clash when A2 arrived and struck before the two collided down. 

Sparks protruded from their ignited weapons and A2 could zoom in on 2B’s slashes on her cheek. She could also hear the automated healing sequence run inside 9S’s body. 

“What the hell are you two doing?!” A2 shouted angrily as she kicked 2B far and slashed her blade at 9S who jumped back before the great sword met his skin.

Neither 9S nor 2B entertained her, they moved, targeting one another as if A2 didn’t exist. As A2 stood by, palm gripping the hilt of her sword much tighter, she noticed a strange color glitched in their fast track strides. 

“Pods, is that…” A2 focused her vision on the faint glowing hue as the two exchanged more frantic sparring. Pod 042 and Pod 153 scanned the two units, awaiting for A2’s orders.

“Run a diagnostics check on 9S and 2B.”

“Negative.” Pod 153 explained. “Unit 9S is still blocking area signals.” 

A2 grunted and followed the yellow haze in 9S and 2B’s eyes. Not red like a logic virus, but something that messed up the recognition program of the two. 

_ If I hacked 9S, 2B will strike while 9S and I are vulnerable. If I attacked 2B, 9S may hack onto me and spread the virus.  _

_ I have to take them down both at the same time.  _ A2 concluded.

“Pod 153, assist me in the hacking space later. Pod 042, help me in knocking 2B down.”

“Affirmative.” Both pods replied as A2 joined the battle dance. 

She first exchanged blows with 2B, while keeping 9S in check behind her back. When 9S was near to strike her, A2 skidded aside and Cruel Oath hit 2B instead. 

A2 ran to grab 9S’s head and clamored, “Pod! Hacking in!” 

Pod 153 guided A2’s consciousness data to insert in 9S’s systems core. The last thing her external senses registered was Pod 042 activating his Wire program to chain 2B on the ground. 

The scenery was far too familiar, A2 decided. Being inside 9S’s circuits again sent chills to her consciousness. She skipped and jumped, evading shots from an anti-hacking protection program he set up for units like her. He must have learned from their fight in The Tower.

A2 chose to delve in 9S’s defense region first, searching for the chip that disabled contact network between the support pods and android units. Once she destroyed the chip, A2 felt Pod 153 chimed in with her in 9S’s internal space.

> **Status report: Unit A2 turned off the signal blockage. This pod will run diagnostics on Unit 9S.**

“Prioritize the memory region for virus check,” A2 commanded. She saw light flying along 9S’s wires and circuitry, it resembled the shooting stars and meteor showers she read in an Old World data. The pods’ work is truly beautiful art if only they kept their mouth shut. Especially 042.

> **Virus scanning complete. The source of the virus is in the depth of unit 9S’s memory region.**

A2 sprinted towards the direction Pod 153 marked for her. She managed to pass through several defense programs, each one ticking and annoying her. 

As she neared the targeted area, numerous memory data of 9S floated in the space. She glanced at some, almost all of them containing 2B in the pictures. A2 also regarded a memory of the white YoRHa Commander before the war. They were recent memories, but as she trudged along path halfway, the data became lumped.

“So...many.” A2 almost lost herself. The next sceneries consisted of 2B, rather 2E, carrying out her orders to terminate him. In some, he discovered 2B’s true designation, in others, he was plunged with  _ Virtuous Contract _ from behind to spare him the recognition. In the end, 2B cannot help herself but cradle 9S in his arms as he spoke his neverending farewells.

> **Alert: Unit A2 is nearing the marked location. This virus is an unidentified one, proceed with caution.**

A2 glided along the pathways and reached the end of 9S’s memory region.

There’s a sole picture memory wrapped in digital thorns, but what shocked A2 more was a 9S in front of said data. 

A digitized model of 9S swiveled and met A2’s glare. This 9S...not the one from The Tower. His blue replaced by yellow eyes flared in her presence. 

“You’re...the virus?”

“2...B?” Virus 9S said.

A2 scowled, she forgot she was 2B’s predecessor model. She raised  _ Beastlord  _ and aimed at the virtual android.

“You’re here to kill me again, huh, 2E.” He lamented. A2 blinked.

“I’m not 2B, I’m A2. I deserted YoRHa and met your successor...the last 9S.”

9S’s brows furrowed in confusion. Then, awareness. As if this 9S calculated the probable future of their meeting.

“If he’s the last...then, I assume he’s the one with the most memories. If the programming is still the same, then he probably accessed…” Virus 9S turned to gaze at the thorned memory.

The fact that this 9S wasn’t attacking her unnerved A2. 

“Say, A2..” Virus 9S called. “You’re here because 9S finally got his memories back.”

She didn’t follow. All 9S models are infuriating, that’s all she understood.

The black vines embracing the picture memory loosened. The scene unraveling before her.

“I was a dormant virus set to be activated once the last 9S gained his past memories.” 

The data was the typical execution of 2B, arms holding 9S as he dies but…

“I was so angry at what she did.”

As 9S’s systems fluctuated in the memory, 2B leaned in to kiss him on the lips. Tears sliding in his mouth, both from his and 2B’s.

“I hate her because she’s going to take away this memory from me. So I set up a dormant virus in 9S’s personality core, if he survives long enough with the right trigger, I’d make sure the current 9S will kill 2B.”

“No, you won’t.” 

A2 jumped and put all the force she could in  _ Beastlord _ , 9S’s yellow eyes were perplexed and he slides to dodge her powerful swing.

She never aimed at him in the first place,  _ Beastlord  _ sparked bytes as A2 attacked the memory picture. The data cracking and spilling out bytes and glitches, dissolving, deleting in this virtual space.

Virus 9S screamed. 

_ Why is it that all 9S models were hellbent on destroying themselves? _

“Pod 153! Establish a connection with 9S! I’m getting out of here.” A2 said and walked away from the virus whose legs began to fade.

“Affirmative. This unit will begin stabilizing unit 9S’s consciousness data.” Pod 153 responded, opening a pathway for A2 to exit 9S’s system.

“w-wait...2B!” The virus shouted. A2 refrained from her step.

“Why did...you even kiss me?” 9S asked, curiosity unrelenting. A2 figured this 9S talked about his kiss of death. How poetic.

“She wanted to die with you at that moment,” A2 remembered when she once scouted 2B’s memories. “She wanted to do something she’ll regret.”

Her fist clenched.

“You both suffered enough. Just let yourselves heal this time.”

In a flash, both A2 and the virus diminished from 9S’s space.

* * *

9S groaned and clutched his head as he sat on the grass.

“You back?” A2 asked. The scanner model lifted his gaze to take on his surroundings. Pod 042 who was still holding 2B in captive. Pod 153 who happily floated above her supported unit.

“2B!”  _ As always, 9S’s priority is her.  _ “What happened, A2?” 

“Dormant virus took over you two,” A2 said. 9S wasted no time plunging in 2B’s systems. In just 30 seconds, 9S sighed and 2B’s yellow eyes disappeared.

“U..ugh.” 2B wiped the blood on her cheeks. “What happened?”

Pod 042 dismantled his wire chains on 2B.

“2B! I’m so glad you’re okay!” 9S leaped and hugged the battler model, who instinctively caught him in her arms.

“You’re the one who did that to her.” A2 teased. 9S lowered his head to hide in 2B’s chest. Real subtle, scanner boy.

“Don’t tell me about it.” 9S pouted, hugging 2B like a teddy bear. 2B looked at A2 in question. 

“Basically, a past 9S-”

“A2!”

“Fine fine, just...make sure 9S remembers each kiss you’ll have, okay?” A2’s tone was sarcastically like a mother. 9S grumped and 2B laughed, petting the boy’s white hair.

The pods hovered around the three ex-YoRHa units. The past may continue to haunt them, but the promise of a future where they’d be free from the weight of their sins will always be worth it. 

* * *

_**Extra Ending:** _

“Hey, A2,” 9S smirked triumphantly. That’s not good.

“Thanks for shutting your audio processors down. 2B here can finally scream without worrying you’ll wake up.” 9S patted 2B’s cheek who blushed crimson.

“Nines! Y-you mean-” 2B stuttered.

“A2 here is what the Old World refers to as a  _ peeping tom _ .” 

“2B,” A2 said vehemently. “You’ve been coddling 9S too much.”

“Alert: Unit A2’s black box temperature rising.” Pod 042 recited.

“Shut up Pod! 9S! Get out of her lap!” A2 shouted as she chased 9S off who removed himself from 2B’s lap and flew around.

2B glanced at the pods, still blushing, A2’s threats, and 9S’s taunts in the background.

“You..two were in sleep mode...right?” 2B asked the pods gently.

“Negative.” The pods said in unison.

2B wanted to disappear at that moment.

**Author's Note:**

> Hmmm, according to one of the videos I watched, the YoRHa units were programmed to feel pleasure during combat. So it kinda makes sense that the creators put sexual innuendo when 2B killed 9S. They're just having sex in the android language.
> 
> Yep, the part where A2 hacked in 9S is just a resemblance to Ending C. 
> 
> The thorns in the memory space, a reference from Memory Thorn and Memory Cage. Light novels of Nier Automata before the game. It narrates 2B's feelings during her execution of 9S. According to 9S, 2B's memories were covered in thorns.
> 
> To explain why 2B was also affected by the dormant virus of 9S, his virus worked this way: 9S accessed his past memories through 2B. 9S's virus activated into making sure 9S kills 2B. It also affects 2B, making sure she attacks 9S. Virus 9S doesn't want to kill 2B without her fighting back. 
> 
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> 
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> 
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